The Princess of Dragons
by lizfav
Summary: There are many types of dragons: Fire, Sky, Shadow, etc. Miriel is a dragon that is none of those and yet all of those and more. She is a Royal Dragon, the princess, to be exact. Royal Dragons have mastered all forms of Dragon Magic and their own secret magics in order to protect their people. But Miriel finds herself away from home, and must find her way in the strange land Fiore.
1. My Name is Miriel

_My name is Miriel. I am 300 years old. I have blue eyes and light purple scales. I am a Royal Dragon. Royal Dragons have mastered all the arts so they can keep bad dragons from doing bad. We supposed to keep order. Dad is king. Mom is queen. Nyra is older sister, Marina is twin, Rovreln is younger brother. I learn to write right now. I fly higher than Marina. Nyra flys good. Rovreln can not fly. He just hatched. Nyra is 500. I light candles with magic and_

"Miriel, that's enough," Mom said. I looked up at her, away from the parchment, ink dripping from the claw I used to write. Why'd she stop me? Did I do good? Did I do something wrong? Did she have to leave? "You did good. If you keep it up like this, you'll be miles ahead of Marina!" she laughed affectionately and I felt a burst of pride surge through me. I was better at writing than Marina!

 _You're not better than me,_ Marina reminded me in my head. _I'm still the one who can first talk to you through our minds._ My moment of triumph vanished. Telepathy was easy for twins, especially Royal and Psychic Dragons. Marina had already figured out how to enter my mind, but I still couldn't enter hers unless she let me in. It annoyed me, but it was comforting that I was better with the natural elements than her. Fire, earth, ice, water, sky. They came easily to me.

"I'm afraid I have to go, now," Mom said. "Clean your claw." I obediently licked my claw clean from ink and looked back up at her. Her eyes were green, and her scales were so dark they appeared to be black. But sometimes, when you look really closely, they sometimes look like really dark purple. She was sitting upright, wings wrapping neatly around her, her legs and slender tail barely visible.

"Why do you have to go?" I protested, trying to imitate her pose but my wings weren't big enough yet to cover both my forelegs and my tail wouldn't coil around my left foreleg properly. I knew I looked ridiculous, but it was just me and Mom there. How did she manage to look so regal without even trying?

"Your brother has to learn to fly, too, you know," she answered. I grumbled in reply, and she laughed. "Why don't you try and enter Marina's mind?" I gave up on trying to sit like her as the idea sank into my mind. If Marina could do it, then I could too, right? How hard could it really be if twins could do it easily? I was going to figure out how to do it, and I was going to figure it out right then and there. Normally, I wouldn't be able to focus on figuring it out because I would get distracted by flying or something else. But not this time.

 _Focus… focus,_ I thought, closing my eyes and scrunching up my face in concentration. I pictured Marina in my mind, how similar to me she looked, how her voice was slightly softer than mine, how she and I constantly competed to get ahead of each other.

How I saw her face look when I saw her practising telepathy once.

I instantly relaxed, mimicking what I had seen her do. I stopped scrunching up my face, and I stopped trying to force it. I took a deep breath and reached out with my mind.

 _Marina,_ I called silently. I repeated her name over and over.

 _WHAT?_ Marina's voice was harsh in my mind. _You've said my name like five times; what do you want?_

 _Marina! I can talk to you first now!_ I said to her, hoping I was able to keep the link open. Was it really this easy? I felt no drain on my magic energy at all! Marina didn't reply, making me worry that I couldn't reach her anymore.

 _It's about time,_ she finally replied. _But now I'm in the middle of a flying lesson, so I can't talk right now._

 _Flying? That sounds like so much fun!_ I didn't want her to go. I wanted to keep talking with her, just in case I wouldn't be able to pull this off again.

 _I said I can't talk right now!_ Marina said. I briefly wondered how far I could go with this ability, and then my magic reached out further to her. All of a sudden, I was in the air. The wind was cold and harsh, biting at my scales. I was furiously beating my wings, trying to get higher. With each wingbeat, I became more tired. Soon exhausted, I tried to land. I slowed my wingbeats, trying to control my descent. But it was difficult. Once I was a few feet off the ground, I folded my sore wings and fell, landing on my feet.

 _"Again! Fly higher!"_ I could hear the instructor order. I opened my eyes just as I was about to take off again. I had seen and felt what Marina had seen and felt!


	2. Shifting

Soon Marina and I were caught up with each other in our studies. We could both control all the elements, we could both fly for a long time, we were at the same level in Psychic magic, everything. We stopped competing so much with each other, since we were at the same level. Well, in most things. Marina could already turn into a mouse at will. I had no clue how she did it. Mom would try to explain it to me, but it just didn't make sense and I couldn't turn into anything.

"Come on, Miriel," Mom urged. "Focus."

"I am!" I insisted. "But nothing's happening!"

"Are you doing what I told you to do? Every last detail of instruction?" Mom asked.

"Of course I am," I said, giving up. "What's the point of shape shifting anyway? It's stupid; why would I want to be anything other than a dragon?" Mom looked at me.

"There are a lot of things you can be that are just as fun as being a dragon. Plus, if you leave the dragon realm, a lot of places wouldn't want a dragon to be loose. So it's safer to travel in another form."

"I'm not going to leave the dragon realm. Everything that I want is here."

"Come with me." She took off into the sky and I followed. She lead me out of the dragon realm and into the human world, into a large forest, untouched by humans. We landed in a clearing. "Turn into the first animal that you see," she ordered. I slowly crept through the trees, not really keeping an eye out for any animals. Mom wanted me to turn to a squirrel or something, probably, but I didn't want to turn into anything, so I didn't notice any small animals.

But there was an animal that no matter how I tried, I couldn't avoid seeing.

There was a rustle in a nearby bush, and despite my want to ignore it, I looked over to see what it was. I saw a flash of gray fur before it bounded out of it's bush. We stared at each other for a while. Just me and the wolf. It wasn't growling or anything, it just stood there, staring at me. I closed my eyes and followed the instructions Mom had given me. And when I opened my eyes again, I was a wolf.

"Very good, Miriel! I didn't expect a _wolf_ ; those can be a little tricky to shift into on your first try. Well done!" Mom praised. I smiled up at her. She was _huge_. I turned back to my original form. I fought back a surge of pride. _Shape shifting's stupid_ , I had to remind myself. _I don't care if I can turn to a wolf._

"Now, the first one is always the hardest, so you should have no problem shifting into other things as well," Mom continued as we flew back into the dragon realm.

 _Come on, you like it,_ Marina said in my head.

 _No, I don't!_ I insisted. She laughed. I had to admit, though, there was something that I enjoyed about being a wolf.

 _Anyways, it took you long enough to figure out how to shape shift. I had that down half a year ago!_

 _I know you did, but I turned to a_ wolf _on my first try. So there._ She laughed again.

"That's it for the lessons today," Mom said once we were back in the dragon realm. "DO you can go play with Rovreln or whatever you like." As if on cue, Rovreln ran up to me, tripping on his wings, tail, and claws clumsily.

"Miriel, Miriel!" he pleaded. "I want to play hide-and-seek!"

"We need more than two people for that to be fun," I said.

"Nyra and Marina said they'd play! You've gotta play, you've gotta!"

"Alright," I laughed. "Who's seeking?" Rovreln smiled.

"You are!" He ran off to find a hiding spot. I laughed again, and waited a few minutes before going to look for my siblings. I found Marina easily, she was hiding in our room as a mouse.

"You can't hide from me," I joked.

"Well when you enter my mind to see where I was, it's not exactly fair," Marina pointed out, turning back to a dragon.

"It's not like I tried to enter your mind!" I said. "So anyway, did you see where Nyra and Rovreln went?"

"I didn't see where Rovreln went, but Nyra went to the treasury."

"Thanks," I said, leaving and heading to the treasury. I stared at the mountains of gold and jewels, looking for any sign of my older sister. I sniffed the air and the scent of the gold and jewels flooded my nose, but there was something else, something fainter. The scent of dragon. I followed the scent and dug through the piles of treasures until I saw Nyra's blue scales.

"Found you," I said. She stepped out from hiding and shook off the remaining gold pieces.

"I thought the gold would've hidden my scent," she grumbled.

"It almost did," I said. "Do you have any idea where Rovreln went?" Nyra shook her head and followed me to find our brother. We couldn't find him until after the sun had set, when we noticed a flash of black scales rushing down a hallway.

"Rovreln! I found you!" I announced. He stopped and looked at me.

"I won!" he declared.

"You're good at this game. You're like a spy!" Nyra said. I laughed.

"Well, come on, Spy," I said. "We need to eat dinner." And so we went to eat dinner, and my siblings and I always called Rovreln Spy after that.

500 years passed. It was Spy's 500th birthday. Plenty of dragons were invited to the party. All our friends, tutors. I searched the crowd to look for Igneel, who was my tutor in Fire Dragon Magic, and he was one of my favorite tutors. I found him talking to my dad, while Spy was taking in every detail of every present. Marina was quietly reading a book, and Nyra was gossiping away with her friends. Mom was pleasantly chatting with one of her friends, someone I didn't recognize. I headed over to Igneel.

"Hello, Miriel," he said.

"Hey, Igneel," I replied. "I figured out how you-" I was interrupted by a crash and a scream. In a flash, I turned around to see my mother collapsed in a pool of her own blood, a blade piercing her chest.


	3. First Blood

I stood, wide-eyed, frozen in shock. People around me rushed over to my mom to see what happened, and a shadow fleeing through a broken window caught my eye. The shadow of the killer. I turned to get a better look, then took off after it at full speed. I managed to corner him and he spun around to face me. True, he was twice my size, but I was still a Royal Dragon and he was only a Shadow Dragon.

"Just a puny 800 year old?" he laughed.

"Why did you do that?" I demanded.

"It's time for dragons to take back the land that was ours," he growled.

"What land?"

"The human's lands. It belongs to the dragons and we'll take it back."

"No," I said firmly. "We gave that land to the humans."

"It was a stupid decision. But it doesn't matter whether or not the Royal Dragons are on our side. It's happening, and you can't stop it."

"And that's why you attacked my mom?" I growled back. He got into a fighting stance and I did the same.

"It's what had to be done," he said. I narrowed my eyes at him. "And if I have to kill you too, so be it." He lunged at me. I ducked out of the way and jumped ontop of him, pinning him down. I took a deep breath, preparing to breathe fire. He rolled over onto his back, knocking me on the ground and he put his foreclaws on my chest, pinning me down.

"Light Dra-" I started, but he swiped at my snout, interrupting my spell and resulting in a deep scratch the reached from my eye to my chin. I swiped my tongue over my lips, licking off some of the blood from the scratch. I kicked up with my hind legs, pushing him off and trying to cut into his underside with my claws, but my claws weren't sharp enough to do little more than leave a mark.

"White Dragon Roar!" I said, and the roar hit him dead-on. Once it died off, he was battered and bruised, but still standing.

"You little brat," he hissed. "Shadow Dragon Ro-"

"Royal Dragon Explosive Energy!" I yelled before he could finish, and he was caught in the middle of an explosion of pure magic energy. I heard him scream briefly, then fell silent. I staggered from exhaustion from that last spell and tried to blink the blood out of my eyes. Panting, I stood back up and forced myself to fly as fast as I could back to Mom. My siblings and Dad were gathered around her while the guests were standing a few steps back except for the stranger who Mom was talking to earlier. I rushed over to Mom's side, shouldering him out of the way to make room.

"Miriel, you're bleeding! What happened?" Nyra exclaimed.

"I went after the guy who did this," I said.

"You didn't…?" she trailed off, but I knew what she was asking. I nodded and she gasped. "You _killed_ someone?"

"Your first kill," Mom said quietly. I looked down at her and she coughed up a bit of blood.

"Mom, don't die," I said.

"It's my time to go," she said.

"Why healed her?" I demanded.

"We tried, but she's too far gone," Dad said gently.

"Try harder then!" I said. "She can't die!"

"Miriel," Mom said. I looked at her, tears blurring my vision. "It's okay."

"No, it's not!" I protested.

"I love all of you," she said, then her breathing slowed to a stop and her eyes closed. I burst out into tears, as did my siblings. I don't remember much of what happened after that. I remember my Dad pulled Nyra, Marina, and Spy away from Mom and the stranger pulled me away from her and they took us to our rooms and I cried for so long. Mom was the first victim in an upcoming war. And my fight with the killer had given me my first real taste of blood.


	4. The War Begins

"Captain!" Dad ordered. "Escort the prince and princesses to their rooms, and don't let them leave. We cannot risk their safety."

"Yes, sir," the captain of the guards said, then called to his men, "You heard the king! I want a guard at each of their doors. Anyone that can be spared should report to General Bloodfang and wait for further instruction." The guards led my siblings to their rooms, but I refused to go.

"Dad, let me go to Bloodfang," I pleaded. "I'll be fine!"

"No, you won't! This is a war, Miriel," Dad said very sternly. "Countless lives will be lost, and it's no place for a princess."

"Neither is a locked room!" I protested.

"It is if it's for your safety!" Dad insisted.

"You can't keep me locked in my room for the entire war!"

"I can and I will! The captain will have someone hunt for you and your siblings so you'll have plenty of food and water, so there is nothing to worry about, I assure you."

"I'm not going to just sit in my room for who knows how long while I have my food hunted for me like I'm a dragonet!" I lashed my tail irritably.

"You _are_ a dragonet!" Dad yelled. "You're only 800!"

"But I still hunt for myself! I can hunt, fly, fight; I have every right to be fighting!" I yelled back.

"You have _no_ right to fight in this war! It is not your fight!"

"It _is_ my fight! Do you think Mom would want us to hide in our rooms like cowards?" I challenged, my wings half-open.

"Your mother would want you safe!"

"Mom would want to protect our kingdom!" I stood up on my hind legs and flared my wings.

"And we are! That's why we have an army!"

"Just let me fight!" I insisted.

"No! You will do as I say!" Dad bellowed, standing on his hind legs and flaring his wings. He was so much bigger than me, it was hard not to be intimidated. I set myself down on all fours and tucked in my wings again.

"Come, Your Highness," a guard said, and I reluctantly let him lead me to my room.

"I want two guards at Miriel's door," I heard Dad tell the captain as I left. "She'll no doubt try to sneak out."

"Yes sir," the captain said, and soon another guard was walking beside me. The two guards didn't leave when I reached my room; instead they stood outside my door like they were told to.

"You sure made Dad angry, didn't you," Marina smirked.

"He made me angry!" I retaliated. "You can't be honestly fine with this."

"No, I don't want to be locked in here as much as you do, but there's nothing we can do about it," she answered.

"Of course there's something we can do about it."

"No there's nothing we can do," Marina said. I glowered at the door. The guards had an enhanced sense of magic, so they could sense any spells or anything that had traces of magic. Getting out wouldn't be easy.

"Trust me, I'll get out of here," I assured.

"Get your boyfriend to help you," Marina said dismissively. Of course, she was referring to Nahym, the prince of the Ice Dragons. Dad had arranged us to be betrothed. I couldn't see any way out of betrothal, but it honestly wasn't all that bad. Nahym was nice enough and I did like him. Of course, it would be a while until we would actually _be_ betrothed; the war had caused some complications.

"Maybe I will," I said, curling up to go to sleep. "But not tonight."


	5. Escape

After a few days locked in, Marina and I realized that the guards had a sort of soft spot for the two of us, though they would try to hide it, and it was easy to get what we wanted. I leaned up against the door.  
"I'm so hungry!" I whined. Marina, being my twin, caught on.  
"Miriel, be patient. You know as well as I do that we can't have our favorite foods whenever we want when there's a war going on," she said loud enough for the guards to hear through the door. "We'll just have to wait for tonight for food."  
"But that's so long to wait!" I protested. "And I'd much rather have fresh rabbit."  
"One rabbit's not enough to fill you up," Marina pointed out.  
"Well there is a war going on, so I picked something that would hardly take any effort," I said.  
"Don't get used to this," I heard the guard's muffled voice through the door. "This is a one-time thing." Marina and I grinned slyly at each other, knowing very well that it wasn't a one-time thing if we didn't want it to be. I felt slightly guilty for manipulating the guards like that; they were sweet, but this is what you get when you force me into my room like this. A few minutes later, the guard opened the door and dropped a rabbit on the floor. I feigned surprise.  
"Thank you so much!" I exclaimed. "I never expected you to do this, thank you! You're so kind, thank you!" Satisfied with the number of thank-yous, I watched carefully to see his response. His smile was so brief that if I wasn't actively looking for it I wouldn't have noticed, yet it was full of kindness. He quickly replaced it with a serious disapproving face.  
"Don't get used to it, Your Highness," he said and left. I ate the rabbit then looked at Marina.  
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked.  
"Of course I am. I'm your twin, remember?" Marina said.  
"Just making sure," I said. "So what do you think of my plan?"  
"Idiotic, riddled with holes, almost guaranteed not to work," she said. "What? What 'holes'?" I asked, offended.  
"The guards aren't that stupid. They'd notice if we distracted them like that."  
"Well, how do we get out, then?"  
"We need outside help."  
"From whom?"  
"You know who," Marina said slyly.  
"Really?" I said, catching on. "Why him?"  
"You know he'd do anything for you." I rolled my eyes and sighed. My twin was referring to Koorshi, who was the Ice Prince, and just so happened to be the one I was betrothed to. I'd heard about princesses and princes making a fuss about having an arranged marriage, but really I didn't see the problem. I'd known since birth that I would have an arranged marriage, and out of all the suitors I was presented Koorshi seemed like the best one.  
Koorshi, I called out to him with my mind. I had taught him a while ago how to communicate via telepathy. Koorshi, can you hear me?  
Miriel? What is it? Koorshi replied.  
I'm locked in my room and need your help getting out.  
What do you want me to do?  
Get the guards away from my door and keep them away while I get out.  
Got it.  
"He's coming?" Marina asked and I nodded. About an hour later I heard Koorshi and the guards talking.  
"Who are you and what do you want?" one of the guards said.  
"I'm Koorshi and there's something you need to see," Koorshi said.  
"You're the princess's betrothed?" the second guard asked.  
"Yes."  
"We can't go anywhere. Our orders are to guard the princesses," the first guard said sternly.  
"That's why I'm here," Koorshi insisted. "The two girls in that room aren't the princesses. They're imposters."  
"Imposters? That's ridiculous."  
"It's the truth. Bring them out here and check," Koorshi said and the door clicked unlocked. I used more Psychic Dragon Magic than I needed to make them think the bracelet around my foreleg had blue gems instead of purple so that the guards would sense a larger illusion, rather than the small illusion it really was. Marina did the same, but she made her bracelet have purple gems instead of blue.  
"There's definitely an illusion here," one of the guards said and the other nodded.  
"Big enough to disguise an entire dragon," he said. "So, Koorshi, where do you think the real princesses are?" the first guard asked. "Follow me, and I'll take you there," Koorshi said. The guards roughly pushed us back into our room and locked the door again.  
"When we get back you'll go straight to the dungeon," one said through the door.  
"And the penalty for pretending to be a Royal Dragon is death," the other growled, and I heard the three of them leave. We stopped our illusions.  
"They're gone," Marina said. "Hurry up and bust the lock." I took a deep breath and blew fire on the lock, melting it. I opened the door and the two of us snuck out of the palace, carefully avoiding any guards or servants that might see us.  
"Okay," I said once we were in the clear. "Now to General Bloodfang's camp." 


	6. Tayam

And so Marina and I fought on the front lines, after forging a document saying we were allowed to be outside the palace. General Bloodfang had assigned us to our own troops for us to fight in. Nothing really of interest happened besides fighting tirelessly every day until I heard Nyra's voice in my head, saying that the palace had been attacked and Dad sent for her and Spy to be taken somewhere else for hiding, but they managed to sneak off. After that, it was a few weeks before anything else of interest happened.

Panting, I plopped onto the ground.

"Everything alright, princess?" a soldier asked. I slowly nodded.

"I'm just tired," I said.

"Here. You can have my rations," he said, pushing part of a deer towards me.

"No, you need your food," I replied, shaking my head.

"Then get some sleep," the soldier suggested and I closed my eyes. For countless days, I had been fighting non-stop. It was extremely tiring, and repetitive. I was pondering whether or not I should ask Bloodfang for a day off. _No,_ I thought to myself. _There are no days off in this war. And if I say I want to stop fighting, Bloodfang will probably send me back to Dad, wherever he is. And since all of us had snuck off, Dad would definitely watch me like a hawk._ I let myself sleep in peace until I was shaken awake by another soldier in the middle of the night.

"What is it?" I asked, shooting upright.

"We just got word of an attack in the north. We're heading out there now," he said. I nodded and joined the rest of my troop and we flew to the north to the fight. The air grew colder the closer we got and snow and ice covered the ground beneath us. Suddenly the snow was melted and the ground was covered in fire instead of ice. We landed nearby and searched for any other dragons. The captain motioned for some soldiers to head over around the fire, while 5 others, he, and I headed in to see if there was anything in the fire. Smoke filled my lungs and flames licked at my fireproof scales. Of course, all I felt from it was warmth, but the smoke did limit the visibility and it was harder to smell anything other than smoke. Three of the soldiers had gone in a different direction. I could only see the captain and two soldiers. We walked forward, keeping our heads low to the ground for a better chance of catching a scent.

"This way!" the captain ordered, taking off after a scent and we followed, but I soon lost sight of them. I slowed to a stop and looked around, trying to figure out where they went. I tried to pick up their scents, but the smoke was too thick. I tried to take a step forward, but then something grabbed me from behind. I spun around to see a big brown dragon gripping my tail tightly, smiling menacingly at me.

"Hello, princess," he snarled. "Tayam would love to meet you." I tried to pull my tail out of his grasp, but the more I struggled, the harder he gripped and his claws dug into my tail painfully.

"Captain!" I yelled but the dragon sliced my muzzle. I twisted around to claw at him and he caught my foreleg in his jaw and bit down hard. I took a deep breath to breath fire at him, but before I could he took off, still holding my tail in his claw and my leg in his jaw. He carried me through the sky. Writhing in his grasp, I opened my wings to try to catch the wind to pull me away, but he ran his hind claws through my wings. I screamed and heard the captain calling my name in the distance but I couldn't respond because he was flying too fast.

He carried me to a mountain that was surrounded by a river. He dove into the water and swam along the current until he took a sharp turn and followed a different current, then shot out of the water in an opening in the middle of the mountain. Dragons were rushing to and fro, busy with their own things. There was what I assumed was a guard at the mouth of the river. The dragon carrying me landed and shook the water off of him, then walked over to the guard, who was staring at me.

"I need to see Tayam," the dragon said, letting my bloody leg drop from his jaw. The guard, shocked, kept staring at me until what the dragon said finally registered and he nodded, then started to lead us off. The dragon walked behind me, making sure I didn't try anything as we walked deeper into the mountain, into a dark tunnel. We finally emerged in another opening, where a few dragons were talking. They stopped to look at us, then one dismissed the others and they, along with the guard, left.

"Tayam," my captor said. "I have captured the princess Miriel."

"I see that," the other dragon, Tayam, said. He stepped closer to me, looking me over, then looked back up at my captor. "You did well."

"What would you like done with her?" he asked. "Do you want her killed?"

"No, no, not yet," Tayam said. "We can use her to get information."

"Who are you?" I asked icily. Tayam looked back at me.

"I am Tayam, the one who will take back the human lands for the dragons," he said. This was the dragon who started this war.

"You will never win," I snapped. He chuckled.

"You're so fond of humans, aren't you?" he said. When I didn't answer, he put a necklace around my neck and added, "Then be stuck as one." The moment the gem in the necklace touched my scales I involuntarily turned human. I tried to turn back to my original form, but I was stuck as a human without any magic and the dragon grabbed my hands so I couldn't take the necklace off.

"Lock her up," Tayam ordered. "Don't give her any food or water tonight. In the morning, I'll go and pay her a visit." The dragon nodded and dragged me off to a cell, where he put shackles on my ankles and wrists and chained them to the wall. After he left, I tried to slip out of the shackles for hours. Finally exhausted, and my wrists and ankles stinging and red from the shackles, I tried to find the most comfortable position to sleep.

The next morning I woke up to see Tayam standing in front of me, wearing the same necklace so that he was in human form as well.

"Good morning, princess," he said.

"Let me go," I snapped, glaring at him.

"Only if you're a good little girl and tell me what I want to know," he replied.

"I'll tell you nothing," I spat. He smirked and held out his hand, palm facing up. Immediately I felt immense pain shoot up my spine. I screamed and he closed his fist. The pain multiplied and I screamed louder until finally he stopped.

"Now, where's Bloodfang's camp?" he asked. When I didn't answer he held out his hand again, causing the pain again. This went on for a couple of hours, he'd ask me a question, and I wouldn't answer, and he'd torture me, sometimes with magic and sometimes with a weapon. By the time he was done I was in bad shape, blood dripped from a head wound into my eyes, almost every inch of me was bruised, and my leg was broken. Soon after he left in the evening, a small meal arrived. It was disgusting. And I soon fell into a routine. Every day he'd come interrogate me, and then he'd leave me in worse shape than I was before and I'd get a rotting dinner. About a week went by, until the last day he came and tortured me again and I lost consciousness, and collapsed to the ground. I woke up again soon after, and it seemed that no time had passed. I opened my eyes to see that I was standing up next to Tayam. I looked down and saw my own body lying there. I gasped, and took a few steps back as Tayam put two fingers to my neck.

"No pulse," he said. "We won't get information from her, but with her dead we have the advantage." He grinned and called for another dragon, who came and dragged my body away. Suddenly everything around me swirled into another scene. Now I was watching Tayam and his dragons parading my lifeless body around. Bloodfang's troops were stunned by the sight of my body and had more trouble fighting. The scene changed again, and this time I saw a messenger talking to my dad. I couldn't hear what he said, but I saw Dad angrily dismiss the messenger and everything faded to black. I looked around in the dark until I finally saw a cloaked figure standing in front of me.

"What's happening?" I asked.

"Princess Miriel, welcome," the figure said, "to Death."


	7. Death

Death was, in short, a nightmare.

The cloaked figure led me into the darkness, and soon we entered what I figured was the Underworld. We walked along a dark path shrouded in a thick mist. In the distance I could hear blood-curdling screams. The further we walked, the louder they got until they soon were almost unbearable. Along the ground bloody mangled corpses littered the ground.

"Who are you?" I asked, trying to distract myself from my gruesome surroundings.

"I'm the embodiment of Death," the figure said, not looking back or slowing down. Suddenly something grabbed my ankle. I jumped and looked down to see one of the corpse's hands gripping my ankle. Horrified, I shook it off and noticed some other corpses slowly crawling along the ground. "This way," Death said, veering off the path.

"Why aren't we staying on the path?" I asked in a shaky voice.

"It's quicker this way. I want to get this sorted out as fast as possible," he replied.

"I- I don't want to leave the path," I said, looking at the moving corpses.

"You'll get used to them," Death said, noticing my hesitation as he turned around to look at me, then looked back forward as he added, "After all, there's a chance you may end up one of them."

"What?" I asked, alarmed.

"I haven't made up my mind what to do with you yet. Now come on, before I decide right here and now to have you join them." I stepped off the path and found myself wading through blood. I gasped in horror and disgust but hurried after Death nonetheless, carefully avoiding the corpses. I followed Death into a large stone building that resembled a crypt. Anxious to leave the blood and bodies behind me, I entered the building and he sat down in a chair made of bones.

"So, Miriel," he began. "You have made my job much more difficult than it should be."

"How so?" I asked timidly.

"You may or may not know this, but when it comes to fate, some things are set in stone and can't be avoided, and some things are implied. The things that are implied happen because that's the only way it would work out without any interference. The parts of your fate that are unavoidable are that this war will result in your death, and you will play a key part in ending this war. What was implied was that you would play a key part in ending the war and you would die later from injuries. However, you got yourself killed before the war ended. So now I need to decide what to do with you that won't mess everything up," he explained.

"How will the war end with me dead now?" I asked. He paused.

"I can't tell you anything of the future," he finally said. "But I'd rather that scenario not play out."

"Then send me back," I suggested. "Let me do what I was meant to do." He paused again, considering what I said.

"That would cause complications as well. Hmm…," he responded, trailing off into thought. "Do you really want to go back to the world of the living?"

"Yes," I nodded. If there was any way I could get out of this place I would take it.

"Very well then." Death stood up and started walking towards me. "But you must know that it will cost you."

"So you'll send me back?" I said.

"Yes. I will send you outside of Tayam's mountain, but I will not heal your injuries and you will remain in human form and without magic until you remove the necklace yourself. You will have to deal with how others react to your revival on your own. And on top of that, once you leave here, a bit of your sanity will remain here. Are you willing to pay this price?"

"Yes," I nodded again.

"But that's not all. This is a huge favor I'm doing for you," he added, leaning in so close I could smell the rotting flesh underneath his hood. "So you owe me big time. I don't know when I'll do this, but I will call in a favor from you. And when I do, you _have to_ go through with it, no matter what it is. And don't think I'll forget about this, either. I never forget these things." Before I could say anything else I woke up again, lying on my back in human form in some grass outside the mountain. The sun was blinding, and every part of me either ached or stung. My leg was still broken, I was still bruised everywhere, and blood still dripped from me head wound and various other cuts.

 _I need to get out of here; I'm too close to Tayam's mountain,_ I thought, _I don't have time to worry about taking off the necklace right now._ I staggered to my feet and, trying to keep as little weight on my broken leg as possible, staggered back to Bloodfang's camp. I saw him studying a map on his own.

"Bloodfang," I choked out, then coughed up blood into my arm.

"Miriel?!" Bloodfang gasped. "But… you're dead!" I only coughed again in response. "Can you heal yourself?" I shook my head no.

"No strength," I said. Talking in full sentences was too exhausting. Bloodfang nodded and gently laid me down on some soft grass and darted off, returning a few minutes later with a Sky Dragon, who began to heal me. I ended up falling asleep and when I woke up again, I was in dragon form again and the Sky Dragon was gone and my father was standing nearby. I was feeling much better after the Sky Dragon healed me.

"Miriel!" Dad exclaimed, hugging me. "What happened? You were dead!"

"Yeah, yeah I was. But I was sent back," I said.

"How did you get sent back? What happened?" Dad pressed.

"I… I don't want to talk about it," I said shortly. I didn't want to have to remember the nightmare I went through. Of course, no one let me forget it. Dad took me back with him into hiding until I had recovered to full strength. Every day, everyone would ask me what happened. What happened to me while I was hostage, what it was like to die, what it was like to be revived, how I convinced Death to send me back, everything. I couldn't take the questions anymore and shut myself in my room for weeks. I didn't let anybody in, not even Dad or Marina, and I didn't leave. The only exception to this was when Dad or someone would give me food. And every time they gave me food, they asked me questions. I would give them the same response and shut them out as quickly as I could. Of course, rumors spread like wildfire. From my room, I could hear dragons spreading them. It appeared that dragons believed that I had sold my soul to Death in order to come back, or that I had already was on good terms with Death or he owed me a favor. None of those were good rumors to be spread about a princess. But it seemed like the one most dragons believed was that I was an undead abomination who had no right to be in the Royal Family. That I was a monster.

Finally, I overheard Bloodfang talking to my father. Apparently they were having trouble locating where Tayam's troops were. _This is why I was sent back,_ I thought to myself, and opened the door and went over to them.

"Miriel-" Dad started.

"I know where Tayam's troops are," I said, cutting him off before he could say anything. "They're hiding in a mountain northwest of here. You can get inside through the river that circles it." I gave them exact directions to get inside.

"Thank you for telling us this," Bloodfang said when I was finished. "We'll send our forces in as soon as the sun sets."

"And I'll go with you," I said.

"No," Dad said sternly. "You've already been killed once, I won't let you be killed again."

"They can easily get lost on the way. They could take a wrong turn in the river. I'm the only one who knows how to get in. Even with the directions I gave you, you still need a guide," I pointed out. "I won't do any fighting. I'll lead them in, then hide while they do the fighting. I won't die this time." The last part, of course, was a lie. But I knew if I didn't tell Dad that, I would have no chance of going.

"Bloodfang, make absolute sure she goes into hiding. I will not permit her to fight. But I will permit her to be your guide," Dad said.

"Yes, sir," Bloodfang said. And so all I had to do was wait until nightfall.


End file.
